


Late Night Hacking

by Chrystie, kate882



Series: Batdad and his Robins [3]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, DCU (Comics), Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-04
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2019-03-13 19:32:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13577478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chrystie/pseuds/Chrystie, https://archiveofourown.org/users/kate882/pseuds/kate882
Summary: Tim shook his head though, which didn’t really surprise Bruce. “Not really no.” He shifted uncomfortably in Bruce’s desk chair. “I just … didn’t want to be by myself.”





	Late Night Hacking

Bruce woke up to the sound of typing, and honestly it was a little impressive and unnerving that Tim was able to get into his room and start up a laptop without waking him up sooner.

“Tim,” Bruce said gruffly due to his voice being sleep worn rather than actually being mad, “Is something wrong?”

Tim seemed to startle a bit at his voice, which wasn’t really like him, and looked up from his laptop that was illuminating his face in the dark room. “Oh, um, no. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up,” he answered quietly.

“What happened?” Because obviously something had.

Tim looked back at his screen, clearly embarrassed. “I had a nightmare and I couldn’t get back to sleep. I can go back to my room though if I’m keeping you awake.”

Tim was so composed and so intelligent that a lot of the time it was easy to forget that he was still just a kid. And they’d caught their serial killer that night, but they’d seen some pretty horrific things in the process. It was easy to imagine that it could have given Tim some rather unsettling nightmares.  

“Did you want to sleep here tonight?” Bruce used to extend the offer to both Dick and Jason after they had nightmares as children as well when they lived with him. Well he usually had to extend it to Jason; Dick was the only one comfortable enough to just slip in under the blanket and tell Bruce all about it before Bruce could get out so much as a full sentence.

Tim shook his head though, which didn’t really surprise Bruce. “Not really no.” He shifted uncomfortably in Bruce’s desk chair. “I just … didn’t want to be by myself.”

“I know I’m not really in a good position to talk,” Bruce sat up to lean against his headboard, “But sleep shouldn’t be skipped when you have the opportunity. Are you sure?”

“I’m sure. I wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep anyway.” He hesitated before asking, “Could I stay in here though? I’ll switch to my phone to try and be quieter.”

And Bruce supposed that could be acceptable, but it wasn’t exactly something he’d prefer. “How about you bring the laptop over here and show me what you’re working on?”

Tim frowned at him. “But you’re supposed to be sleeping.”

“I could say the same to you. Actually, I believe I already have.”

“Yes but-” Tim frowned harder at him, like he thought that would work. “But I would be keeping you up later by doing that, and then we’d both be awake because of me.”

“It’s fine, Tim. We both know a late night isn’t new to either of us.”

Tim sighed, but moved over to the bed, propping his laptop between them. “I’m trying to design a better security system for Wayne Enterprises because I was able to hack into the current one,” he told Bruce, and then paused, seeming to go over his words and decided he needed to explain. “I wasn’t hacking your company system to do anything to it, it was just something to try to do to calm down some.”

Bruce gave Tim a disbelieving look, “You hacked to calm down?” Bruce really wasn’t surprised, more impressed than anything else.

“It takes focus when systems are fairly secure, so I can’t think too much about whatever’s upsetting me at the time,” Tim told him, a tad defensively.

“I can see the logic behind it, and from your work so far you’ve managed to come up with something quite impressive.” It did make Bruce wonder if Tim ever gave himself a break. Again it wasn’t something could very fairly call someone else out on, but sometimes Tim was so much like him it worried him a little.

“It’s not finished yet. I was going to try and have Dick test it tomorrow for anything I might have missed. I hear people tend to miss their own flaws more than other people’s, so he seemed like a good test subject if he has the time.”

“I’m sure he’d be happy to help. He likes to find reasons to bond with you.”

Tim smiled a little at that, reminding Bruce that while Dick and Jason had both been fans of other superheroes, Tim’s favorite hero was Dick. “Would you mind also testing it out when it’s finished? The more test subjects the better.”

“Of course. If it’s for Wayne Enterprises I feel somewhat obligated to test it out.”

“You do sort of work there,” Tim agreed, pulling the laptop closer to himself to continue his work.

“Only when necessary,” Bruce agreed with the smallest of smiles. He spent the night leaning over Tim’s shoulder giving him suggestions on what he could’ve missed or more efficient ways to go about certain issues. Overall, Tim didn’t need that much guidance though. Even at his young age, he was able to think of simple solutions for complex problems and Bruce was left to marvel at just how brilliant he was.

It wasn't until the sun was starting to crawl it's way through the sky that Tim seemed to start to have trouble keeping his eyes open and focused on his screen.

“I think it’s time to put this away,” Bruce pointed to the laptop. He would've just snuck it away and let Tim fall asleep had it been anyone else, but he knew Tim probably wouldn't take well to that.

“No no, I'm fine, I just need some caffeine,” Tim told him around a yawn.

Bruce saved Tim’s work before he simply closed his laptop and put it on the nightstand. “Some sleep will do you good.”

“I don't want to go to sleep.” Tim said it very matter of factly, and his expression was pretty neutral, but under the careful blankness Tim was adopting, Bruce could make out the fear he was trying to hide under the surface.

Bruce knew Tim wouldn’t be willing to talk about it. It was another way Tim was just too oddly similar to him. He’d have to go about it differently. “I can understand why. Tonight’s case was difficult. I don’t think I would have caught him without you. I need my Robin to be at the top of his game.”

Tim still looked reluctant, but nodded anyway. “I guess I should go back to my room then.” He didn't look thrilled by that idea either.

“My offer for you to stay here still stands.” And because he didn’t really want Tim to fight him on that, Bruce just pulled the blanket higher up to cover Tim’s chest.

Tim looked at the blanket with a small frown, but nodded.

Bruce laid back down next to him, giving him enough space so he wouldn’t feel uncomfortable. “You’re safe, Tim,” he said quietly.

“I know,” Tim agreed, slowly laying down as well. “You're here. Doesn't get much safer.” He turned onto his side so he wasn't facing Bruce.

“I’m glad you think so,” Bruce smiled into his pillow.

It was hard knowing that something had managed to shake someone as strong Tim so hard that he was afraid to sleep. He couldn’t keep forgetting the important detail that Tim was a still a kid, and the things he was used to seeing weren’t very easy for kids to see. He was glad Tim had trusted him enough to spend the night in his room rather than try and deal with the fear alone- although it made him wonder how often this had happened without Tim coming to him- even though initially he was still hesitant to disturb Bruce.

“Of course I do,” and he sounded so sure of himself on that statement, even as sleep weighed heavy in his voice, and Bruce could tell that he was already starting to drift off.

“Good night, Tim.” Bruce waited for Tim’s breathing to even out before letting himself drift off as well.


End file.
